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An ok book

Zombie Blondes by Brian James was released on 12th May 2009 by Square Fish (an imprint of Macmillan US). The book is 256 pages long.

PlotHannah and her Dad have moved town...again, never staying in one town for too long incase her fathers' problems catch up with them. This time, he says it will be different. This time, they will stay in Maplecrest. Hannah has a hard time believing the words her father has said so many times before though but decided to try to give it a real try this time around.

All Hannah has ever wanted was to be one of the popular girls and to fit in. Maplecrest may just give her that chance, only things are not exactly how they seem. The popular girls in this high school, the cheerleaders, are almost exactly identical. They all have the same bleached blonde hair, amazingly blue eyes and are ridiculously pale. Hannah's new friend Lukas seems to know a few things about the popular girls though and none if it is good. The popular girls aren't the only things that are off in Maplecrest and Hannah is going to find out too quickly exactly what is going on.

What I thoughtZombies are one of my favourite fantasy creatures to read about in YA novels. Every zombie book I have read so far has been completely different from the one before and there are always new and fresh ideas popping up. Zombie Blondes showed a lot of promise to deliver the same thing.

Zombie Blondes is quite a short book and because of this, I thought the story was let down. Had the book had another (at least) 50 pages or so, everything could have been expanded upon and fleshed out, instead of being rushed and with not enough detail. As Hannah is just moving to a new town at the beginning of the book, there is quite a large build up before anything really happens. I would have liked for there to be more action or for there to be more description when it came to the zombies. The zombies themselves don't really play such a large part but instead, it is more about what Hannah thinks about what is happening in Maplecrest. The thing which interests me the most about zombies is how they act and the things that they do but there wasn't very much of that in this book, which was a real shame.

I felt for Hannah at the start of the book. Her Dad was a real piece of work who never listened to what she had to say and he didn't pay any real attention to her. I would hate to have a relationship with another family member like this and I could see why she got so upset about it. Even though their relationship is extremely strained, it wasn't really explained well enough. We are told that Hannah's Dad is pretty much running away from debt collectors and has been doing for years but nothing ever comes of it. A big deal is made about these problems but they are never properly or fully explained so words were wasted going over this more than once and they could have been used better.

Hannah does seem like quite an intelligent girl to begin with, even if she does have this massive need to fit in with the popular kids in school. She had common sense and her feelings and thoughts were communicated well but then she also seemed like a complete idiot at other times. For someone who seemed so bright, she did some pretty stupid things which didn't really match with what I thought of her to begin with. In short, her character had a personality which clashed with itself at different times, making her quite confusing. When things began to take a turn for the worse, Hannah didn't act as I was expecting her to either. I think I was expecting her to be all kick ass and fight back more than she did but she actually seemed to take the idea of zombies all too well when she realised they were real.

Lukas, Hannah's best (and only) friend was a character that I think I would have grown to like, had he had more of a presence. As the only person willing to tell Hannah about the zombies, he should have had more of a major part in the story. He seemed like he could have been such a good friend to Hannah but she didn't even give him a chance. She saw that he wasn't one of the popular kids in school so she made up her mind pretty quick that she didn't want much to do with him. Lukas was the most sane and normal character in this book and that's saying something, considering how he goes on about zombies an awful lot. I would have loved to have seen him treat better and for him to have a bigger part/ more time in the story.

Even though I haven't said any good things about this book so far, I did actually quite enjoy it. Yes, there are problems with the characters and depth of the plot but it is still a fun read. This is a book unlike any other zombie book and it really was a fun, but short read. If it had been longer I think it would have been much better and a lot more enjoyable. Maybe it would have made me love it instead of only liking it.

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A very different take on cliques in a high school

I first saw this book when I was buying something off someone on Ebay. Then I looked at what other items they were selling at this book was one of them. After going online and reading about this book it sounded quite interesting and something that I would read.

When I first started this book, I began to sadly loose interest at the start. I think this is because it does begin a little slowly, but then after the first couple of chapters it does start to get interesting and you soon learn more about the strange goings on in the town of Maplecrest. Zombie Blondes is the story of a girl called Hannah who has just moved to Maplecrest with her dad. It soon becomes clear to the reader that Hannah is angry with her dad making her move again, as he has made her moves many other times before. But what Hannah really wants is to stay in one place and to stop being the new girl for once. Hannah begins to realise that the girls in her new school are not normal girls, but hide a deep and dark secret. As from the title of the book, you can really guess what the book is about, Zombie Blondes. These girls are the cheerleading squad of the school and seen perfect to Hannah. At first Hannah is the outsider and does not get on at all with the girls, but they soon invite her to join in cheerleading with her, to which she excepts. Hannah quickly realises that this may have been a mistake and could she now be in danger from becoming "One of them." I would defiantly recommend reading this book, but I think that a suitable age for someone to read this at would be 15 to 17. I say this because any older than those ages, then you would loose interest. I have just turned 18 and I have to say it just held my interest.

I would also recommend this book to anyone who likes those types of stories that is full of suspension and keeps you wondering what is going to happen next? This book also describes the cliques that happen in high schools, but obviously this high school in a little... extraordinary! And the popular girls in this school just happen to be dead!

Zombie Blondes is around 240 pages long, and in my opinion it didn't take me that long to read. Which is not a bad thing if your like me and have a very long "must read" stack of books on your bedside table! I wouldn't say that this book is hard to read at all, in the sense it is very easy to read because of the type of language chosen.

On the back of the book it says the price only in American dollars and Canadian. But I think I paid around £3.00, for it on Ebay, which included the post and packaging, which I thought was a really good buy.